Topic summary
Shahname
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Shahnameh.
On Turkic identity
Turks, as an ethno-linguistic group, have been influenced by the Shahnameh since the advent of Seljuks. The Seljuk sultan Toghrul III is said to have recited the Shahnameh while swinging his mace in battle. According to Ibn Bibi, 1221 the Seljuk sultan of RumAla' al-Din Kay-kubad decorated the walls of Konya and Sivas with verses from the Shahnameh. The Turks themselves connected their origin not with Turkish tribal history but with the Turanians of Shahnameh. Specifically in India, through the Shahnameh, they felt themselves to be the last outpost tied to the civilized world by the thread of Iranianism.